Plastic welt for shoes



PLASTIC WELT FOR s ons ::Its Corporation, Passaic, NJ., a corporation ofDelaare i Application October24, 1956, Serial No. 617,9 62 t zcaims.Cl.436 7 8 i This invention comprises a new andimproved sh'oe :Je'ome A.Rubico, Boston, Massa assi'gor to Shoe l'at- 'V welt of syntheticplastcmaterial having novel provision C;

for concealing an outseam when used in shoes'of the OO Seaf welt `ty'p,'and in all fields of use presenting an ttractveand 'ornamental finish) ii i i;

I have discovered that welting of novel shape and' characterstics may beproduced by modifying or supplementing the extrusion operation so as toform in the body of the welt a continuous longitudinal seam-concealingpassage. The passage may be formed in the welting as it is extruded orafter it emerges from the extruding die and in any desired location inthe welting. In a shoe welt having an attaching flange, the passage istubular and formed in position to receive the outseam and below theexposed face of the flange.

Another feature of the invention comprises the provision of resilentflaps in the exposed face of the welting which permit the stitches ofthe seam to be drawn into the concealed passage and then automaticallyclose'above the seam when it has been establshed in its final position.These flaps are herein shown as formed in part by a normally closed slitextending downwardly from an exposed face of the welting into thepassage.

Still another feature of the invention consists in providing portions ofplastic welting with a wheeled or closely corrugated surface ofornamental character. This conformation conceals the slit and presentsan ornamental eflect desirable in many types of shoes. The conformationmay be imparted to the welting by subjecting it to the action of acorrugated roll or wheel as it emerges from the eXt-udng dies and beforeattaning its final somewhat stff and resilent characteristics.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in perspective illustrating the extrudingand wheeling steps,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary View in perspective and on an enlarged scale ofa portion of the resulting welting,

Fig. 3 is a view in cross-section on an enlarged scale showing thewelting as incorporated in the bottom of a Goodyear welt shoe;

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the welting incorporated in a cementlasted Shoe, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View of the welting in a modified form.

The illustrated welting herein shown comprises an attaching flange '10,substantially rectaugular in cross-sec Z,9Z2,236 Patented Jan. 26, 1960tion, having a plain lower or sole-engaging face 11 and an oppositelydirected exposed face 12 ornamented by wheeled transverse 'corrugationsThe welting includes also a lower nseam-receiving portion 14 which isdefined in part by a downwardly opening seam-receiving channel 15 andmay be made with or without the upstanding bead 13 shown in Fig. 3. I,

Within the body of the attaching flange 10 is formed a continuouslongitudinal tubular passage 16 herein shown as semi-circular incross-section and located between the faces 11 and 12 of the flange withits concave face downwardly directed. A normally closed slit 17 extendsdownwardly from the face 12 into the upper flat wall of the passage '16a'nd define's in part a pair of resilent oppositely directed flaps whichmay be .temporarily separated when the-stitches of an outseamareforcibly drawn between them andintothe.-passage 16. After suchdistortion the .posit' I i A traces of the seam in the' passage 16.;

flaps immediately and automatically reassume their initial oncompletely. closing the slit 17 and concealingall `The shoe welt of' thecharacter showninFig 2 may be extruded in plastic condition from anextruding die 20 having an outlet nozzle of the proper shape to form theflanges and the bead of the welting. The passage 16 and the slit 17 arepreferably formed by the configuration of the extruding die itselfalthough if preferred these two features may be formed as the materialemerges from the die 20. The wheeled configuration is imparted to thesurface 12 by passing the extruded welting through the bite of a pair ofrolls 21 and 22, the roll 21 having a transversely corrugated surfacefor indentng the welting and the roll 22 having' a plain supportingsurface.

A welt thus formed is shown in Fig. 3 as incorporated ina conventionalshoe of the Goodyear welt type having an insole 24 provided with theusual rib 25. The upper .already explained, are forcibly drawn downbetween the two flaps formed by the slit 17 into the passage 16. In Fig.3 the flaps are shown as having resumed their initial position afterhaving been temporarily displaced to admit the stitches 29. The usualfiller 30 fills the cavity between the insole and the outsole. Theexposed wheeled face of the welt presents an ornamental appearance whichis mechanically accurate in respect to the spacing and depth of thetransverse corrugations and these tend to render the slit 17 hardlynoticeable in.the finished shoe.

In Fig. 5 is shown a portion of the welting modified from that of Fig. 2in that the attaching flange 10' is extruded in slightly concave shapeso that the slit 17' is initially open to a very slight degree. As aresult of this concave shape the attaching flange will be straightenedwhen it is pulled down upon the outsole by 'the outseam and the edges ofthe slit will consequently be'forced together and held closely by theresilency of the material.

In Fig. 4 the welting is disclosed as incorporated in a shoe of thecement lasted type in which the upper 26' is secured to the bottom ofthe insole 24' by cement. The welt in this case may be attached to theoutsole 28' by stitches 29' of a lockstitch seam or it may befair-stitched to the outsole by a straight needle sewing machine or byany type of seam formed at any stage of the shoemaking process. In allcases, however, the seam will be pulled down into the concealed passageand completely hidden therein.

It is noted that the stitch-receiving passage 16 is of symmetricalcross-section and that it s evenly bisected by the normally closed slit17. The slit thus defines a pair of opposed flaps that are similar inshape and size and so facilitate displacement of the flaps in receivingthe seam.

The channel 15 may of course be omitted in welting for use in shoes ofLittleway, Compo or Stitchdown types. The attaching fiange, shown asconcave in Fig. 5, may be given an equivalent angular shape for closingthe slit 17', and the welt inay be applied to a midsole in shoes wherethat is found. v

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail anillustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent:

1. A welt having a body of resilient plastc material with an outwardlyextending fiange provided with an exposed face imprinted withtransversely extending corru- `gation and having a longitudinalstitch-receiving passage disposed parallel to and beneath its saidcorrugated face and a normally closed longitudinal slit above saidpassage forming oppositely directed resilient fiaps that may betemporarily displaced When a seam-forming thread is drawn into the'passage and con-cealed therein below the corrugated face of the welt.

2. A welt of resilient material having an outwardly extending attachingflange substantially rectangular in crosssection and an inseam receivingportion provided 'with a downwardly opening channel for the nsearn, apassageway formed longitudinally within the body of said flange,

said passageway being semi-circular in cross-section, a slit along theupper portion of said fiange extending vertically downward to bisectsaid passageway, said slit being effective to form normally closedself-retuming flaps to conceal a searn along the root of saidpassageway.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re.19,407 Wood Dec. 25, 1934 73,570 Blake Jan. 21, 1868 1,577,791 DreschlerMar. 23, 1926 1,695,967 Lyon Dec. 18, 1928 1,695,969 Lyon Dec. 18, 19281,728,366 Ruggiero Sept. 17, 1929 1,735,457 Gilson Nov. 12, 19292,103,331 Mathews Dec. 28, 1937 2,399,086 Wright Apr. 23, 1946 2,448,165v Wright Aug. 331, 1948 i v e FOREIGN PATENTS 2 21 ,65 1 'Great BritainSept. 18, 1924 442,837 Great Britain Jan. 29, 1935 617,366 Great BritainAug. 17, 1935 924,426 Germany Mar. 3, 1955

